Slot: Hard to accept Nunez's behaviour after Villa miss

Arne Slot will talk to Darwin Nunez about what he saw as a disappointing drop in work rate after the Liverpool striker "got too much in his head" following his costly miss at Aston Villa.

The Reds failed to open a 10-point lead over Arsenal at the Premier League summit as Wednesday's trip to Villa Park ended in a helter-skelter 2-2 draw.

Villa had chances to win it late on but Nunez's botched opportunity shortly after Liverpool levelled was most glaring, with the Uruguay international missing an open goal after being teed up by Dominik Szoboszlai.

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Slot's frustration at the time was as clear as his disappointment the following morning about the forward's dip in performance.

"I can accept every miss, especially from a player that has scored two very important goals against Brentford, that scores for us in the home game against Villa," he said ahead of Sunday's trip to Manchester City, live on Sky Sports.

"I would prefer him to score but the word 'chance' says it all. It's a chance so it's not 100 per cent sure that the ball goes in, and players miss chances.

"That I can accept but what was a bit harder for me to accept was his behaviour after that chance. I think it got too much in his head, where he wasn't the usual Darwin that works his a** off and makes sure he helps the team.

"I think he was too disappointed after missing that chance and maybe - we will never know, we will never find out - that's why he was just a fraction short the moment afterwards [when he had another chance].

"I always truly believe that it's best to have Wata's [Wataru Endo] mindset and what I mean with that is that for the whole season he doesn't stop playing, keeps on going and whenever we need him he's ready.

"That is very difficult. There are not many players that can do this so it's not about the chance. It's more about the 20 minutes afterwards where I want to talk to him, [rather] than about him missing a chance."

Asked whether it was vital to stress to Nunez about his important role for the remainder of the season, Slot said: "Yes, I will tell him that as well.

"But I think the most important message is you can miss a chance but you can't miss out on work rate. That is, for me, a more important message that I tell him because that's the life of striker.

"He knows. He's 25, he will probably have missed a few chances in his career and he probably would have scored a few as well.

"Of course we would love to see it differently but it's part of the job of a No 9, part of your life that you sometimes miss where people expect you to score.

"But it's not part of the job of a No 9 then to slow down in work rate and that is something we will talk about."

Nunez following the miss, saying: "I wasn't the best three weeks ago and I'm not the worst now. If I fall, I get up. You'll never see me give up.

"I'm going to give it my all until the last day I'm here in Liverpool. Resilience!"

Slot was in front of the cameras just 12 hours after facing the media at Villa Park, where substitute Conor Bradley limped off with an issue late on.

The Liverpool right-back is set to miss the trip to the Etihad but forward Cody Gakpo could return after missing two matches through injury.

"Let's see," Slot said of the Netherlands international. "I hope. I'm not 100 per cent sure. He hasn't trained with the team yet. Maybe he does a bit today [Thursday], I don't know exactly. It will be a close call.

"We don't know yet [with Bradley] but I would be completely surprised if he's involved in the Sunday game or the Wednesday game against Newcastle.

"Joe Gomez had surgery for his hamstring injury so he's out for a long time. He will be back maybe just before the end of the season."

'I feel for Nunez - he was Liverpool's hero at Brentford in January'

Sky Sports News reporter Vinny O'Connor:

"I do feel a little bit for Nunez - it was a glaring miss but we would not be highlighting it so much had Liverpool defended better from the free-kick that led to Villa's equaliser and for the second goal.

"At the same time, we saw Liverpool's move of the match, a great ball by Conor Bradley to Szoboszlai, who played the perfect ball across for Nunez coming in from the left-hand post. He was under pressure from Axel Disasi but ended up blazing it high over the crossbar.

"That is four big chances now missed in the Premier League this season for Nunez. A shot conversion rate of 20 per cent has given him four goals and that has come with an average playing time of 42 minutes per appearance. He has made 21 appearances in the league so far this season.

"He has put out on social media that he will come back stronger, he will work harder. Do not forget that a month ago he was the hero at Brentford, getting both late goals that got all three points for Liverpool.

"But that message on social media will be music to Slot's ears as he said the miss against Aston Villa is forgivable but what he is disappointed about is the way Nunez let it affect him and the dip in his work rate after."